A round up of our 2019 successes and achievements –
As we begin a fresh year, we’d like to share some of our achievements from the past 12 months including a selection of appointments. Here’s to a good 2020!
To view click on the following link – Directorbank_Summary of Activity 2019
Directorbank Germany celebrates 10th anniversary –
In 2009 Directorbank launched its German practice in Frankfurt, Europe’s second largest financial centre behind London. Headed up by Dorothea Kronenberghs, our Executive Director Europe, the practice set out to offer a tailored, board-level recruitment service to Directorbank’s growing German Private Equity client base and establish a strong network of executive and non-executive talent across Germany and the DACH region.
Roll forward a decade and Directorbank Germany contributes around 40% towards Directorbank’s total business revenue and our reputation as a trusted search partner is cemented in the German mid-market Private Equity community. We are also widely recognised as the go-to point for entrepreneurially-minded, proven directors and senior managers looking for new challenges and opportunities.
“I’m very proud of Directorbank’s growth in Germany over the last ten years – the talented team we’ve built, the brand recognition we’ve developed and the trustworthy relationships we’ve established with Private Equity clients, entrepreneurial managers and board directors. We look forward to continuing our growth journey and helping our investor clients create value and build successful businesses as well as supporting our candidates to find outstanding entrepreneurial opportunities.”
Dorothea Kronenberghs, Executive Director Europe
Directorbank has received ‘Cyber Essentials Plus’ accreditation demonstrating that we have adopted the best practices in cyber security.
What is Cyber Essentials –
Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme to encourage organisations to adopt best practices in their information security strategy. It helps guard them against common online threats such as hacking, phishing and password guessing and helps protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data stored on devices which connect to the internet such as desktops, laptops, tablets and phones as well as all server and networking equipment.
How did Directorbank gain the ‘Cyber Essentials Plus’ certificate –
By demonstrating that our IT is suitably secure and meets the strict requirements set out in the Cyber Essentials framework. This covers 5 themes – firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection and patch management. Following an independent assessment of our security controls by a Certification Body (including an external and internal vulnerability scan) Directorbank was upgraded to the tier 2 level – ‘Cyber Essentials Plus’ status.
Benefits of the Cyber Essentials scheme –
Should you have any further queries regarding Directorbank’s approach to cyber-security, please email Ian Street, our Head of IT and Data Protection, at enquiries@directorbank.com
Building a team for sustainable growth is one of the biggest challenges that a CEO/Founder of a fast growing SME faces. Directorbank’s James Searby shares his insight.
As a business grows, so too does the need to evolve the Board. At the helm of a far bigger and more complex ship, the Founder/CEO’s ability to manage all facets of the day-to-day operations of the business will become increasingly challenging.
With this greater complexity comes the need for additional support, and unless a talented Senior Management Team (SMT) is developed or recruited, this can become a major barrier to growth.
A strong SMT which has the ability and experience to help the business continue along its growth trajectory is essential. By ensuring diversity of experience, expertise and ambition, the Founder/CEO is able to free up more of their time to focus on management, strategy and those crucial decisions surrounding emerging priorities, opportunities and challenges.
A Chair can add immense value to a growing business. They will provide strategic support and experience built over many years of successes and failures and will act as an invaluable sounding board for the Founder/CEO as they focus on the next stage of growth. They will promote top-level discussion, maintain management team cohesion, and focus the board on the most important aspects of future growth.
They will be someone who shares the Founder/CEO’s vision for growth – a confidant and a mentor who can offer support when most needed. They will be a seasoned expert, possibly with deep sector knowledge and certainly with situational experience. They will bring the gravitas to counsel and critique board decision making, and will objectively challenge the Founder/CEO in a way they might not have been challenged before.
Essentially, a valuable Chair is someone who has been through the entrepreneurial journey already and has trodden the path which the Founder/CEO aspires to follow. They have well-earned empathy with the challenges faced by owned-managed growth businesses and, if there is external funding, they will have the knowledge to act as the cornerstone between investor and management.
Good chemistry is crucial and the trust and respect between Chair and Founder/CEO is imperative to their working relationship.
As a company scales and the need for a more commercial finance function grows, the FD role must move beyond cash control. What has worked in the past is unlikely to be the best approach for the future.
The Founder/CEO needs to ask: ‘Are the right capabilities in place to strategically support our growth plans? Do I have the commercial finance visibility to make informed decisions going forward?’
If the business is looking for external funding to provide financial firepower to unlock future growth opportunities then a bean counter will not suffice. A well-rounded and robust CFO is likely to tick the box on many of the below attributes:
As a business evolves and the team deepens, success becomes even more dependent on the functional aspects of the business firing on all cylinders. The Founder/CEO cannot oversee it all and more trust must be given to the core team. In preparation, thought should be given to:
For more information, contact James Searby on 0113 297 8000/020 7255 7940 or at j.searby@directorbank.com